Where Is Home, Little Pip?

For Little Pip, the baby penguin, home is a pebbly nest on the cold Antartic shore. Mama and Papa always reminds Pip not to wander far, and she never does...until one day a black, glittery feather leads Pip on a chase far, far from home. As she tries to find her way back to her parents, Pip encounters some friendly animals, a mighty blue whale, a gull, and even a sled dog. But while these animals know where their home is, they do not know where Pip's home is. In her sadness, Pip begins to sing a song about home that her parents taught her, and the sound of her voice guides her parents straight to her!

For Little Pip, the baby penguin, home is a pebbly nest on the cold Antartic shore. Mama and Papa always reminds Pip not to wander far, and she never does...until one day a black, glittery feather leads Pip on a chase far, far from home. As she tries to find her way back to her parents, Pip encounters some friendly animals, a mighty blue whale, a gull, and even a sled dog. But while these animals know where their home is, they do not know where Pip's home is. In her sadness, Pip begins to sing a song about home that her parents taught her, and the sound of her voice guides her parents straight to her!

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1

This book invokes themes of family and home in an Arctic setting. A young penguin loves to play and explore but is constantly warned by her doting parents not to wander far. Every night they sing a song reminding her that "our home is...in our pebbly nest by the stormy sea,/where Mama and Papa and Pip makes three." (The grammatical error is unfortunate.) One day, inevitably, Pip wanders off and becomes lost. She asks the different animals that she encounters, "Where is home?" But for each creature, home is a different place. Alone and frightened in the frozen wilderness, Pip sings the song that Mama and Papa taught her, and, like a talisman, it brings them together for a joyful reunion ("Since we're together, home is right here!"). Well-structured text, genuine emotions, and beautiful full-bleed illustrations in a palette that ranges from cool whites and blues to warm pinks, corals, and tans combine to produce a wonderful story of a loving family separated and then reunited. Pair this tale with reassuring stories such as Harry Horse's Little Rabbit Lost (Peachtree, 2002), Janell Cannon's Stellaluna (Harcourt, 1993), and Martin Waddell's Owl Babies (Candlewick, 1992).-Jane Marino, Bronxville Public Library, NY

Karma Wilson is the author of the best-sellers Bear Snores On and Bear Wants More, both illustrated by Jane Chapman, and One Day in the Middle of the Bog, illustrated by Joan Rankin. She lives just outside of beautiful Bonners Ferry, Idaho.